Grading machine



Aug. 24, 1937. 'c. H. HEATHER GRADIIENG MACHINE Filed Oct. 12, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug. 24, 1937. c, H, HEATHER 2,090,677

GRADING MACHINE Filed Oct. 12, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet? www- Patented Aug. 24, 1937 UNETE STATES PA'rsr FFlE GRADING MACHINE Application October 12, 1936, Serial No. 105,201 In Great Britain November 27, 1935 12 Claims.

This invention relates to grading machines for operating upon blanks such as shoe soles and is herein illustrated as embodied in a machine for marking and evening leather soles. i) Machines of this type commonly include a splitting or evening mechanism, a marking mechanism, measuring mechanism, and connections between the said mechanisms such that the blanks are marked and even-ed in accordance with 1;) the thinnest spot in a selected locality of each blank encountered by the measuring mechanism. It is desirable under certain circumstances to be able to control the operation of machines of this type so that all blanks passed through the machine may be marked but not evened or so that all blanks below a selected minimum thickness or above a select-ed maximum thickness may be operated upon in a particular manner. For example, it may be desirable to even and mark all blanks above a selected minimum thickness but merely to mark those below that selected thickness.

According to the present invention, provision is made whereby the operation of the machine may be controlled to produce various results of the general nature of which two examples have been indicated above. To this end, the illustrated machine is provided with certain adjustable stops which may be rendered operative or inoperative according to the result desired. Referring to the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a machine in which the present invention is embodied;

Fig. 2 is a plan, partly in section, showing more particularly the setting slide and its relation to the means for adjusting the evening mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation, partly in section, showing the means for adjusting the evening mechanism;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line IV-IV of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a detail in perspective of the marking wheel adjusting mechanism.

The machine, except for certain adjustable 5 stops, is or may be the same as the machine of United States Letters Patent No. 1,703,955, granted March 5, 1929, upon an application filed in the name of William T. B. Roberts; and only as much of the structure of the patented machine as is necessary to an understanding of the improvement will be described, the reference numerals on the present drawings being the same 1 as those on the patent so far as corresponding elements are concerned.

The general purpose of the patented machine is to mark and split or even a blank such as a sole in accordance with the thickness of its thinnest spot in a selected locality. A blank is presented to measuring rolls I and 2, and as it passes between them the lower roll 2 moves down and, through suitable mechanism, moves a rack bar or controller 35 to the right. Thereafter, the rack bar moves to the right or the left as thicker or thinner spots are encountered in the blank by the feeler rolls, until certain locking mechanism becomes effective, after which it no longer moves to the right as thicker spots are encountered by the measuring rolls, but does move to the left as thinner spots are encountered until it reaches a final position.

At the rear of the machine is a splitting or evening mechanism including an upper gage roll 3, a stationary knife 5 and a lower yielding feed roll 0, the gage roll being normally held in raised inoperative position and being moved down into a position corresponding to the final position of the rack bar 35 before the splitting takes place. This rack bar has teeth on its side which mesh with a pinion on the lower end of a small upright shaft 36, said shaft having at its upper end another pinion which meshes with a rack on a setting slide 31 (Fig. 2). Thus during the passage of a blank between the measuring rolls I and 2, the setting slide 3'! is moved when the rack bar 35 is moved. This setting slide has a bevel surface 5I at one end; and after the setting slide has been adjusted into its final position and located therein, a slide member 62 is pulled toward the front of the machine until a bevel surface on this member 02 contacts with the bevel surface 6i. Pulling forward the slide bar 62 adjusts the gage roll 3 downward a distance depending upon how far the slide member 62 travels before it encounters the bevel surface H on the setting slide 31. The slide member 62 is part of a slide I08 (Fig. 3) having a recess 0! with which the hooked end I06 of a latch 05 is adapted to engage. This latch is pivoted at I04 to a slide 83 which in turn is pivoted at I03 toone end of an actuator in the form of a rod 99. In the operation of the machine the actuator 99 is first moved to the left from the position shown in Fig. 3 to cause the hooked end I06 to engage the recess I0'I in the slide I08. The actuator 09- is then moved to the right to pull the slide I08 to the right until the bevel surface on the slide member 62 contacts with the bevel surface 0| on the setting slide 31.

Subsequently a cam piece I I3 on a rotary shaft 9 disengages the hook I06 from the recess in the slide I08 which is then returned to the position shown by a spring I l5. The actuator 99 is moved to the right and left by means of one arm 9! (Figs. 3 and 4) of a bell-crank lever. This arm is forked and has pivotally mounted in it a 5 sleeve 98 through which the rod 99 passes transversely. Slidably mounted in the longitudinal bore of the sleeve are two plungers :00, [El urged toward the rod by a' spring :02. The plungers have frustoconical inner ends which extend into a circumferential groove on the rod or actuator 99. The arm 92 is swung back and forth at proper times; and the connection between the arm and the actuator, which has been described above, is sufiiciently firm to cause the arm to move the actuator with it when permitted to do so but to move relatively to the actuator when the actuator is held from movement as it is, for example, when the hook E90 has pulled the slide member 62 as far as the beveled face 6! on the setting slide will permit.

Referring to Fig. 1, the bell-crank lever, of which the arm 9i is the lower arm, is pivoted about a stud 99 on the frame. lhe other arm 95 of the bell-crank lever is connected by a link 94 to one end of a second bell-crank lever 92 pivoted at 93 to the frame, and the other end of this bell-crank lever carries a roll, said roll running in a cam track 63 in a gear wheel 94.

The gage roll 3 of the splitting mechanism is normally in raised position so that, if not adjusted downward, no blank will be operated upon by the knife; and whenever this roll is adjusted downward it is returned to its raised position after the evening of a blank. The rack bar or controller 35, through the upright shaft 35 and its pinions, adjusts the setting slide 37 into the proper position according to the thinnest spot in the selected locality of a blank. Subsequently the rod or actuator 99 is pulled to the right until 40 the slide member 62' contacts with the beveled surface (ii on the setting slide, the movement of this member, through mechanism not herein described, serving to adjust the gage roll 3 downwardly into a position in which the blank will be properly evened.

The setting slide 37 not only determines the position in which the gage roll 3 of the splitting mechanism will be adjusted with respect to the edge of the knife, but adjusts a marking wheel to mark the blank with a numeral to indicate the thickness of its thinnest spot. The marking mechanism is not shown in Patent No. 1,703,955 referred to above, but a marking mechanism is stated to be provided which is like that of British Patent No. 17,808 of 1909, this mechanism including a rotary marking shaft 9 which is clutched intermittentlyto the main driving shaft l0. British Patent No. 17,808 of 1909 has the same disclosure as United States. Letters Patent N 0. 1,058,623,

granted April 8, 1913, upon an application filed setting slide 37 carries a bracket 390 to the outer end of which is pivoted one endof a link 30l the other end of this link being pivoted to the middle of a segmental rack 303 which is suspended from a pivot 305 carried by a vertically movable frame in which is rotatably mounted a marking wheel 301. This wheel is fast at one end to a small horizontal shaft 399 rotatably mounted in the vertically movable frame, said shaft carrying at its outer end a pinion 9H which meshes with the segmental rack 309.

When the setting slide 37 is adjusted lengthwise, the marking wheel 301 is adjusted by being rotated, its final position depending upon the final position of the setting slide; and at the proper time the frame in which the marking wheel is mounted is moved down to mark the blank, this movement of the frame being caused by rotation of the marking shaft 9 which is clutched to the shaft l0. No further description of mechanism which is old will be given, reference being made to the two United States patents for details of construction not shown or described.

The purpose of the present invention, as has been explained, is to provide means for so con-' trolling the machine that it may be caused to operate in different manners. To this end, adjustable maximum and minimum stops are provided for limiting the extent of movement of the rack bar or controller 35, and an adjustable stop lever is provided for limiting the movement of the slide rod or actuator 99. Referring to Fig. 1, a minimum stop screw 40l is threaded through a lug on the frame of the machine and may be held in adjusted position by a lock-nut 403. This screw limits the extent of movement to the left of the controller 35, this movement to the left acting to adjust the setting slide 31 and with it the marking wheel 30! in accordance with thinner spots in the blank, the gage roll 3 of the splitting mechanism being subsequently adjusted downward when the rod 99 is pulled to the right by the swinging of the lever 91. A maximum stop screw 405 limits the extent of movement to the right of the controller 35 in response to thicker spots in the blank. This stop screw is rotatably mounted in a bearing in the frame of the machine and has threaded engagement with a bevel gear 401 which is prevented from moving endwise of the screw by reason of the engagement of its rear face with the machine frame and the teeth on its forward face meshing with a cooperating bevel gear 409 which is fastened to the upper end of a vertical shaft 4| I. This vertical shaft has secured to its lower end a hand lever 413 by which the shaft 4| I may be rotated to rotate the bevel gear 401 and thus adjust the stop screw 405. A pin 420 carried by the frame of the machine enters a groove M6 in the screw 405 and prevents the screw from turning.

Various results may be accomplished by adjusting these maximum and minimum stop screws into different positions. If both are adjusted into inoperative position, the machine will function like the patented machine to mark and I even all blanks according to their measurements irrespective of their thicknesses. If the maximum stop screw 495 is set in inoperative position and the minimum stop screw 40! set so that movement to the left of the rack bar or controller permits the gage roll 3 to be subsequently lowered no farther than for a G-iron blank, then all blanks below six irons will not be evened but will be marked six irons, and all blanks above six irons will be marked and evened according to their measurements. mum stop screw 49! is set as above and the maximum stop screw 405 is set so that movement of the rack bar or controller 35 can take place to the right only far enough to permit the gage roll 3 to be subsequently lowered no farther than for a lli-iron blank, then all blanks below six irons will as before be marked six irons but will not be evened, all blanks above ten irons will be marked ten irons and evened to ten irons, and

If the miniall blanks from six to 10 irons will be marked and evened in accordance with the thicknesses of their thinnest spots. The above maximum and minimum limits are of course purely illustrative, the stop screws beingv adjustable so that these limits may be varied as desired.

In addition to the maximum and minimum stops 405, 491 referred to above, a third stop is provided as has been explained, for the sliding rod or actuator 99 movement of which normally adjusts the splitting mechanism in accordance with the final position of the controller 35. This third stop takes the form of an adjustable stop lever M5 pivoted on the stud 95. This stop lever has one arm extending downward in front of the right-hand end of the rod or actuator 99, as viewed in Fig. 1, and another arm which extends over a portion of the frame of the machine. This latter arm has threaded through it an adjusting screw M1, the lower end of which is held in engagement with the frame of the machine by a spring M9 attached at one end to the stop lever M5 and at the other to the frame of the machine. The screw 4II may be so adjusted, after the rod or actuator 99 has been moved into its extreme left-hand position, that movement of the rod or actuator during the operation of the machine is prevented. In such case, no adjustment of the evening mechanism will take place, that is the gage roll 3 will remain in its raised position and all blanks will pass through the machine without being evened. On the other hand, the screw 4|! may be so adjusted that a limited amount of movement of the rod or actuator may be permitted. When the stop lever 415 has been adjusted to allow some movement of the rod or actuator 99 to take place during the operation of the machine, the gage roll 3 will be adjusted downward so as to leave a gap between the said roll and the edge of the knife 5 the size of which will depend upon the amount of movement to the right permitted to the rod 99 by the stop lever.

It should be noted that if the rod 99, movement of which to the right (Figs. 1 and 3) pulls the slide member 62 (Fig. 2) to adjust the gage roll, should be held firmly in its extreme lefthand position, the arm 91 would slide on the rod, no adjustment of the gage roll 3 would take place and no evening of the blank would be accomplished. It should also be noted that holding the rod 99 from movement, or permitting only a limited movement of it to the right, has no effect upon the adjustment or operation of the marking wheel. Consequently, Whether the blank is evened or not, it will be marked.

If the minimum and maximum stops hereinbefore described have been positioned so that neither of them engages the rack bar or controller 35 during operation of the machine and the stop lever H5 has been adjusted so that when the actuator 99 is moved to the right during operation of the machine there is a gap of a predetermined size between the upper splitting roll 3 and the edge of the knife 5, then if a blank which is thinner than the gap between the upper splitting roll and the knife edge is presented to the machine, that blank as it passes through the machine will be measured and marked according to its measurement but will not be evened. The reason for this is that when the lower measuring roll is moved down by the blank, during the measuring thereof, the setting slide 31 is moved across the machine a distance which is dependent upon the thickness of the blank and the marking wheel is rotated to bring a mark on the marking wheel, corresponding to the measured thickness of the blank, into position for marking the blank as it passes through the machine. The setting slide is moved such a dis tance across the machine by the blank that the bevel surface 61 on the slide is so positioned that when the rod or actuator 99 is subsequently moved to the right (Fig. 1) to move down the upper roll 3, the bevel surface on the member 62 does not engage the bevel surface BI and there fore the upper roll 3 will not be moved down to provide a gap between the roll and the knife edge which corresponds to the measured thickness of the blank but will provide a gap which is larger than the measurement of the blank. The blank will therefore pass between the rolls without being evened, but since the marking wheel has been adjusted according to the measured thickness of the blank, the latter will be marked according to its measured thickness. If a blank which is thicker than the predetermined thickness for which the stop lever M5 is adjusted is presented to the machine, the setting slide will be moved across the machine, as the blank passes between the measuring rolls, a distance corresponding to the measured thickness of that blank, and the marking wheel will be adjusted accorcingly. The distance the setting slide will be moved across the machine as the thicker blank passes between the measuring rolls will be such that when the bevel surface on the member 52 is moved forward and the upper splitting roll is moved downward, the bevel surface on the member 82 will engage the bevel surface iii, and the upper splitting roll will be moved down a distance which leaves a gap between the latter roll and the knife edge which corresponds to the measured thickness of the blank. The blank will therefore be measured, marked and evened to its measured thickness. Thus by suitable adjustment of the stop lever M5 and the minimum and maximum stops 69!, 455, blanks which are thinner than a predetermined thickness will be measured and marked according to their measured thicknesses, and blanks which are thicker than that measured thickness will be measured, marked and evened to their measured thicknesses.

The maximum step 405 may, if desired, be used when the adjustable stop lever M5 is in an operative predetermined position, in which case the maximum step 495 will be adjusted so as to be engaged by the rack bar or controller 355 when a blank which is thicker than the thickness for which the adjustable stop lever is adjusted. For example, the adjustable stop lever may be adjusted so that blanks which are less than say six irons will be only measured and marked ac cording to their thickness, and the maximum stop 495 may be adjusted so that all blanks which are thicker than say ten irons will be evened and marked to that thickness. Under these conditions, blanks which are of a thickness between six and ten irons will be marked and evened to their measured thickness, all blanks which are thinner than six irons will be marked according to their measured thickness but not evened, and all blanks which are thicker than ten irons will be evened and marked to ten irons. The stop lever M5 and maximum stop s95 are both adjustable as hereinbefore described so that the thicknesses given, by way of example, above may be varied as desired.

The minimum stop 49! may, if desired, be used in conjunction with the adjustable stop lever 4 I 5 with or without the maximum stop 405. If the minimum stop 40I and the adjustable stop lever 4|5 are used without the maximum stop 405 the 5 minimum stop 40| may be adjusted so that all blanks presented to the machine which are less than a predetermined minimum thickness, for example five irons, will be marked to that predetermined thickness without being evened. The adjustable stop lever 4| 5 may be adjusted so that all blanks between the predetermined minimum thickness and a predetermined maximum thickness for which the lever is adjusted will be measured and marked according to their measl5 ured thicknesses and all blanks which are thicker than the predetermined maximum thickness, will be measured and marked and evened to their measured thicknesses.

If the maximum stop 405 is used in conjunction with the minimum stop 40! and the adjustable stop lever 4l5, all blanks which are thinner than the thickness for which the minimum stop is adjusted will be marked to that minimum thickness without being evened, all blanks of a thickness between the minimum thickness and the thickness to which the adjustable stop lever is adjusted will be measured and marked to their measured thicknesses, all blanks between that thickness for which the adjustable stop lever 4| 5 is adjusted and the thickness to which the maximum stop 405 is adjusted will be measured and marked and evened to their measured thicknesses, and all blanks which are thicker than the thickness to which the maximum stop 405 is adjusted will be evened and marked to that maximum thickness.

If the adjustable stop lever M5 is adjusted so that no movement of the rod or actuator 90 takes place during operation of the machine and therefore the upper splitting roll 3 is not moved down toward the lower roll 4, and the minimum and maximum stops 40 l 405 are adjusted so that they will be engaged by the rack bar or controller 35,

all blanks fed to the machine which are thinner than the thickness for which the minimum stop is set will be marked to that minimum thickness,

all blanks which are thicker than the thickness for which the maximum stop 405 is set will be marked to that maximum thickness and all blanks between the minimum and maximum thicknesses will be marked according to their measurement.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A machine for operating upon blanks according to their thicknesses having, in combination, mechanism for marking the blanks with one of a series of characters, evening mechanism, means normally acting to adjust the said mechanisms so as to mark and even the blanks in ac cordance with thickness measurements of the blanks, means for controlling the adjustment of the marking mechanism so that the marking 5 mechanism is limited to the marking of characters above a lower limit, and means for controlling the adjustment of the evening mechanism to limit the operation of the evening mechanism to the evening of blanks above a lower limit of 7 thickness.

2. A machine for operating upon blanks according to their thicknesses having, in combination, mechanism for marking the blanks with one of a series of characters, evening mechanism,

75 means normally acting to adjust the said mechanisms so as to mark and even the blanks in accordance with thickness measurements of the blanks, means for controlling the adjustment 01' the marking mechanism so that the marking mechanism is limited to the marking of characters below an upper limit, and means for controlling the adjustment of the evening mechanism to limit the operation of the evening mechanism to the evening of blanks above a lower limit of thickness. 7

3. A machine for operating upon blanks according to their thicknesses having, in combination, mechanism for marking the blanks with one of a series of characters, evening mechanism, means normally acting to adjust the said mechanisms so as to mark and even the blanks in accordance with thickness measurements of the blanks, means for controlling the adjustment of the marking mechanism so that the marking mechanism is limited to the marking of characters between an upper and a lower limit, and means for controlling the adjustment of the evening mechanism to limit the operation of the evening mechanism to the evening of blanks above a lower limit of thickness.

4. A machine for operating upon blanks in accordance with their thicknesses having, in combination, evening mechanism including a knife and a roll, said roll being held spaced from the knife a distance greater than the thickness of the thickest blank to be operated upon, an actuator movable to move the roll toward the knife a distance depending upon a thickness measurement of the blank, and an adjustable stop to vary the extent of movement permitted to the actuator.

5. A machine for operating upon blanks in accordance with their thicknesses having, in combination, measuring mechanism, a controller movable in one direction in response to thinner spots encountered in the blank by the measuring mechanism and in another direction in response to thicker spots, marking mechanism adjusted by the controller into a position which corresponds to the final position of said controller, evening mechanism, an actuator normally movable after the controller has reached final position to adjust the evening mechanism in accordance with said final position, and a stop for preventing movement of the actuator whereby the evening mechanism may be prevented from being adjusted, and all blanks passed through the machine will be marked but not evened.

6. A machine for operating upon blanks in accordance with their thicknesses having, in combination, measuring mechanism, a controller movable in one direction in response to thinner spots encountered in the blank for the measuring mechanism and in another direction in response to thicker spots, marking mechanism adjusted by the controller into a position which corresponds to the final position of said controller, evening mechanism, an actuator normally movable after the controller has reached final position to adjust the evening mechanism in accordance with said final position, and a stop for the actuator, said stop being adjustable to vary the amount of movement permitted to the actuator whereby all blanks above a selected thickness which pass through the machine will be marked and evened according to their measured thicknesses, and all blanks below the selected thickness, will be marked but not evened.

7. A machine for operating upon blanks in accordance with their thicknesses having, in combination, measuring mechanism, a controller movable in one direction in response to thinner spots encountered in the blank by the measuring mechanism and in another direction in response to thicker spots, marking mechanism adjusted by the controller into a position which corresponds to the final position of said controller, evening mechanism, an actuator normally movable after the controller has reached final position to adjust the evening mechanism in accordance with said final position, a minimum stop for the controller, and a stop for the actuator.

8. A machine for operating upon blanks in accordance with their thicknesses having, in combination, measuring mechanism, a controller movable in one direction in response to thinner spots encountered in the blank by the measuring mechanism and in another direction in response to thicker spots, marking mechanism adjusted by the controller into a position which corresponds to the final position of said controller, evening mechanism, an actuator normally movable after the controller has reached final position to adjust the evening mechanism in accordance with said final position, a minimum stop for the controller, and a stop for the actuator, said actuator stop being adjustable to vary the amount of movement permitted to the actuator and thereby the extent to which the evening mechanism is adjusted.

9. A machine for operating upon blanks in accordance with their thicknesses having, in com;- bination, measuring mechanism, a controller movable in one direction in response to thinner spots encountered in the blank by the measuring mechanism and in another direction in response 1 to thicker spots, marking mechanism; adjusted by the controller into a position which corresponds to the final position of said controller, evening mechanism, an actuator normally movable after the controller has reached final position to adjust the evening mechanism in accordance with said final position, a maximum stop for the controller, and a stop for the actuator.

10. A machine for operating upon blanks in accordance with their thicknesses having, in combination, measuring mechanism, a controller movable in one direction in response to thinner spots encountered in the blank by the measuring mechanism and in another direction in response to thicker spots, marking mechanism adjusted by the controller into a position which corresponds to the final position of said controller, evening mechanism, an actuator normally movable after the controller has reached final position to adjust the evening mechanism in accordance with said final position, a maximum stop for the controller, and a, stop for the actuator, said actuator stop being adjustable to vary the amount of movement permitted to the actuator and thereby the extent to which the evening mechanism. is adjusted.

11. A machine for operating upon blanks in accordance with their thicknesses having, in combination, measuring mechanism, a controller movable in one direction in response to thinner spots encountered in the blank by the measuring mechanism and in another direction in response to thicker spots, marking mechanism adjusted by the controller into a position which corresponds to the final position of said controller, evening mechanism, an actuator normally movable after the controller has reached final position to adjust the evening mechanism in accordance with said final position, a maximum stop and a minimum stop for the controller, and a stop for the actuator.

12. A machine for operating upon blanks in accordance with their thicknesses: having, in combination, measuring mechanism, a, controller movable in one direction in response to thinner spots encountered in the blank by the measuring mechanism and in another direction in response to thicker spots, marking mechanism adjusted by the controller into a position which corresponds to the final position of said controller, 1 

